NWT Gearing Part 3

27092010

My lovely chainring has to go...

Every time I ride my Bike Friday NWT [New World Tourist] I wish I had higher gearing. This bike is setup with an 8 spd IGH which is enough gear range when adjusted correctly, but at the moment it’s so low I’m pretty much only using gear 6,7 & 8.

Why so low?

Well I used to think I needed lower gears than I actually did. Riding a fixed gear makes that point very clear. By comparison an 8 spd gear box that lets you coast seems positively outrageously luxurious. Even for a touring bike.

The only real problem is I really dig the [expensive!] Sugino 46T ring on the NWT and I can’t fit a smaller cog at the rear with the Surly Singlenator chain tensioner. So I need to dig through my box of rings and grab any ugly 53T or 54T ring and slap it on.

This blog post will hopefully serve to shame me enough that I actually make it happen!

8 responses

@a – yes…left over from when I got the bike with a double ring up front. Can’t use the push up chain tensioner with a double and wanted to stick with 8 speeds. I will remove at some point when I rewrap the bar tape.

@livetocycle – not really…I have a perfectly good low mileage nexus 8 built up in a 20″ wheel…it would be hard to justify getting rid of it for another Shimano IGH with a few extra gears. And then have the Nexus 8 sitting gathering dust.

Ahhh – no way to tell if people are joking online without some sort of smiley-face punctuation.

The Alfine 11 would fit just fine….I don’t think it’s going to be much bigger than the Alfine 8.

I haven’t toured on the NWT yet as I’ve been so busy kiteboarding the last 12 months. I hope to do my next tour on the NWT. It has seen lots of around town commuter use and errand rides for groceries and dropping off recycling.